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Arsenal vs. Chelsea, Premier League: Confirmed lineups; live blog

...as it happened: live blog, updates, highlights, lineups, etc.

Arsenal v Chelsea - Premier League Photo by Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images

LIVE BLOG

FULL TIME: CHO’s shot is blocked out for a corner. Pulisic takes but Mount unable to do anything. Game over.

90+5min: Pulisic cuts in from the right, dances through Arsenal’s attack but the shot is at Leno.

90+1min: Jorginho’s penalty is poor. LOL. Leno saves.

90min: PENALTY CHELSEA! Mari fouls Mount in the box who toe pokes it away into the path of a running Pulisic.

89min: Silva stays up and almost scores from Mount’s cross into the box!

88min: Mount’s corner meets Silva’s head but it’s too high and Chelsea need to recover possession

87min: Arsenal win a corner but it’s poor and Chelsea look to make another attempt on goal. Corner to Chelsea

86min: VAR PREVAILS! GOAL ABRAHAM! 3-1 Chelsea

85min: Abraham’s goal is ruled offside but VAR will check. Beautiful counter opportunity with CHO crossing into Abraham in front of Leno. Beforehand, CHO did well to race past WIllock, finding Pulisic who dribbled and sliced through Arsenal’s defenders before giving it back to CHO to send in the cross

83min: Abraham barges through Arsenal’s defense but loses possession. Counter attack to Arsenal finds Lacazette beating a napping Zouma, getting to Mendy’s poor hit clearance and forces Mendy to a save. Corner from Arsenal hits post, Mendy saves, calamity at the back. Just end this game

81min: Pulisic fires in a cross to unsurprisingly, no Chelsea runners towards either post. That about sums up today.

80min: CHO puts in another good cross that Abraham contorts but heads just over goal

77min: Tammy tries to dummy Mari with Mount’s pass into feet, and Mari goes down in a heap

75min: Chelsea win a corner from James’ deflected cross. Mount takes and Silva heads it just wide.

72min: Chilwell gets a cross into the box again, but Leno easily grabs despite 3 Chelsea shirts surrounding him. Ensuing goal kick, Thiago Silva carded for a foul on Lacazette. Yellow Card Thiago Silva

71min: Arsenal sub: Pepe ON; Martinelli OFF

70min: Chelsea sending in crosses into the box, but Arsenal easily clear. Despite how positive Chelsea have looked so far this half, momentum isn’t going their way.

66min: Pulisic does well to get a cross into Kante’s far post run, but Mari does well to clear

63min: CHO spots Chilwell’s run into space but his technique lets him down. Still, promising sign of life

61min: Chilwell gets to the touchline, crosses into CHO but it’s hit just too high and the chance is lost.

60min: Mount lashes at a second ball from Chelsea’s set-piece and hits it high and wide. Looks like frustration and desperation has settled in.

58min: Chelsea win a corner and Mount takes. Arsenal clear, but James recollects and Zouma gets a header this time but it’s wide of goal.

56min: Saka floats a cross/shot that goes upper 90 well over Mendy’s head and into goal. Lucky? Poor? Yes. 3-0 Arsenal.

55min: Mount floats a hopeful cross to Abraham but Leno collects. Comes from another promising attack where Pulisic ran on goal.

53min: Martinelli lays down on the pitch following a 50/50 where he catches a body from Jorginho’s challenge.

51min: Mount and Pulisic play a little game of 1-2 with each other into the box, with Pulisic turning and firing a shot onto goal that is deflected

48min: CHO fires in a good cross into Abraham who is pushed in the back by Holding. Corner Chelsea. Mount takes it short to CHO who floats it wide out of play.

Second Half: Big changes for the Blues, surprisingly, as they look to comeback from two goals down.

  • Jorginho and CHO ON
  • Kovacic and Werner OFF

45min: Oliver spares Chelsea any further embarrassment and blows the whistle. Poor performance for the Blues who somehow are underperforming the league’s poorest team in form.

43min: Kante fouls Saka in a dangerous area just north of the ‘D’. Arsenal make an attempt to take it quickly but Oliver denies. Xhaka takes the kick and scores.. 2-0 Arsenal.

42min: Werner has a pop on goal after Chelsea beat Arsenal’s press, but it’s a weak shot off target

37min: Arsenal look threatening again with their attack, and Chelsea through solid defending are able to repel Arsenal advances on goal.

36min: Werner leads the counterattack but his pass into Abraham is poor and unable to release the Chelsea striker. The attack eventually wanes away as Chelsea lose possession.

34min: VAR is taking a look at the contact between James and Tierney. VAR deems it a penalty. Lacazette takes and scores. 1-0 Arsenal.

32min: Tierney wins a corner for Arsenal with his overlapping run and cross that deflects out. Arsenal take it short again, with Tierney’s cross to high but Arsenal recover possession. James fouls Tierney in the box. PENALTY TO ARSENAL

31min: Pulisic picks up possession and races down the left, before cutting in and finding Mount who fires in a shot through traffic that goes wide.

30min: Mount’s corner is poor and easily cleared by Mari, but James recovers at the edge of the box far post and tries to curl in a shot but it’s high and wide.

29min: Sloppy back and forth play from both teams has possession flow between both for a few minutes. Chelsea finally gets a chance through from a 50/50 ball that finds Abraham and his shot on goal is deflected for a corner

26min: Saka’s corner is very poor, hitting first man, but Arsenal recover and look to rebuild an attack.

24min: Arsenal with a decent spell of possession now, as they look to build an attack on Chelsea’s goal. Bellerin picks up a loose ball and races into the box, fires a cross that somehow goes through free through two Arsenal attackers. Eventually Arsenal win a corner.

21min: James with another quality cross into the box on the half-volley, and Abraham and Mari tussle for it. Chelsea win another corner. Ensuing corner from Mount finds Zouma, but he heads it over.

19min: Werner pickus up a loose ball and races towards goal, he has one man to beat in Holding, but Hodling does well to tackle the ball out for a Chelsea corner. Ensuing corner is lofted far past far post. Poor ball.

16min: Kovacic with a BEAUTIFUL touch to release himself free from a 50/50 second ball and he bears down for a counter attack. He is fouled as he races towards goal. YELLOW for Pablo Mari.

15min: Holding with a poor clearance from a ball in by Mount ricochets directly into Werner’s path, whose touch is too heavy to settle and produce a chance on goal.

13min: Mount and Chilwell hover over the set-piece, and it’s Mount who takes. It’s CLOSE! Superb kick that just goes wide!

12min: Prolonged spell of possession from Chelsea who are probing passes to find a way through. Pulisic, who has been threatening running at Arsenal multiple times already, is fouled from behind by Xhaka for a free kick opportunity in a dangerous area ~24m from goal.

9min: Chelsea gaining momentum in the match, with a good spell o possession. James intercepts and released Pulisic who races down through Arsenal, laying off a pass to Werner who almost finds Abraham free in the box. Chelsea recycle possession after Arsenal clearance.

6min: James fires in a deep cross to the far post for the path of Werner’s run, but it’s too long and goes out of bounds.

5min: Arsenal win another corner after winning back possession from the previous corner. They take it short this time, with Lacazette getting a header on goal but deflects off Zouma for Mendy to grab easily.

3min: Arsenal win a corner that Saka will take. Zouma clears the corner quite easily.

1min: Bellerin races down the right and crosses into the box which Martinelli side foots wide of goal.

KICK-OFF: The teams are out. Chelsea in all blue, with the white socks. Arsenal in their home red with white raglan sleeves. The players take a knee, and the game is underway.


Chelsea have a chance to move up to second, at least temporarily, with a win here thanks to the earlier 2-2 draw between Leicester City and Manchester United. More importantly, Chelsea have a chance to build on Monday’s solid win over West Ham, which stopped a two-game slide, and also further consign Arsenal into a relegation battle, which is absolutely hilarious.

Given the five days’ rest, but with a view towards the next game that’s coming up in just 48 hours (Aston Villa at home), Lampard has selected a strong lineup.

Here we go!


Arsenal starting XI:
Leno | Bellerin, Holding, Pablo Mari, Tierney, Elneny, Xhaka, Saka, Smith Rowe, Martinelli, Lacazette

Substitutes from: Runersson, Cedric, Mustafi, Matiland-Niles, Ceballos, Willock, Pepe, Nketiah, Aubameyang

Chelsea starting lineup (4-3-3):
Mendy | Chilwell, Thiago Silva, Zouma, James | Mount, Kanté, Kovačić | Werner, Abraham, Pulisic

Substitutes from: Arrizabalaga, Azpilicueta, Rüdiger, Emerson, Jorginho, Gilmour, Havertz, Hudson-Odoi, Giroud


Date / Time: Saturday, December 26, 2020, 17.30 GMT; 12:30pm EST; 11pm IST
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London, England
Referee: Michael Oliver (on pitch); Paul Tierney (VAR)

On TV: Sky Sports Main Event (UK); NBC, Universo (USA); Star Sports Select HD1 (India); SuperSport Premier League, Canal+ Sport 3 (NGA); elsewhere
Streaming: Sky Go (UK); NBC Sports Live, Universo Now (USA); Hotstar (India); DStv Now (NGA)


Be excellent to each other, and party on, dudes

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